


Despite everything, it's still You

by Canadiantardis



Category: Dream SMP - Fandom, Minecraft (Video Game)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, One Shot, Scars, Self-Loathing, Surprisingly compliant, Techno and Dream are mentioned, past trauma
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-09
Updated: 2021-01-09
Packaged: 2021-03-13 10:36:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,667
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28652127
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Canadiantardis/pseuds/Canadiantardis
Summary: Tommy hadn’t realized how long it had been since he last took proper care of his hair until he finally had a mirror in front of him.
Relationships: Toby Smith | Tubbo & TommyInnit
Comments: 38
Kudos: 239





	Despite everything, it's still You

**Author's Note:**

> I'm honestly not sure if I got Tommy's character correct, but I tried, lmao. First fic for the Dream SMP fandom - and first fic written in the new year - let's goooooo!

Tommy hadn’t realized how long it had been since he last took proper care of his hair until he finally had a mirror in front of him. He saw the knots, the mats, from all the times he tried brushing his hair out of his face over the last few months, from the times he grabbed at his head in the midst of some panic, when Dream came to Techno’s place and Tommy had to be dead silent or else he’d know and take him back or worse... _~~When Dream had fisted his hair to stop him from trying to save Logstedshire, his harsh words drowned out by Tommy’s own shouts as his temporary home was blown up like every other...~~_

His hair was now shoulder length, held in place by a tired old elastic that Techno had given him during his temporary stay at his place. He had meant to ask Techno for help with the mess that was his hair, after all, the older piglin hybrid had ridiculously long hair and it still looked like silk, unlike his own.

Behind him, something moves, and Tommy’s eyes lock onto the burn scars on the neck of his... of Tubbo ~~_he wasn’t his, not after what he did, after what he said_ ~~who looked to his reflection with an awkward smile. Tommy had approached him, a couple days after Tubbo had agreed to room with him for the time being _~~of course Tubbo wouldn’t want to stay forever with him, he wanted to leave the Greater SMP area altogether, back to that little snow cabin he was making,~~_ and asked if he could help him cut his own hair. Tommy knew, from the few times he had attempted in the past, long before even the elections, he was not coordinated enough to cut his hair without it looking like someone had chopped it off with a sword. Tubbo knew how to look put together, he was, or had been, a major public figure and President of _~~the now blown up~~_ L’Manburg.

Tubbo had agreed, and now here they were, sitting beside a small, cracked mirror with a bucket of water off to the side. Tubbo held a pair of scissors in one hand, and a brush in the other. He placed them beside the bucket before beckoning to Tommy.

“Let’s wet your hair first, that usually makes things easier,” he said, hands just above Tommy, like he was afraid to touch him _~~he would be afraid, he called him a monster who would want to touch someone like him~~._

It was awkward for several moments, as Tommy leant back to dip his long hair into the bucket, and he shut his eyes to escape from the tension in the room.

Then he felt hands lightly card through his hair, touching his scalp and a dozen different emotions and thoughts bolt through his mind. He noticed how Tubbo stopped at every large knot, never tugging hard on his hair, and found himself loosening the tension in his shoulders, a sigh escaping his mouth. He heard an almost amused hum, so quiet Tommy could have said he hallucinated it _~~like he hallucinated Tubbo visiting all those times~~_ and the fingers almost massaging his scalp and Tommy felt a void he hadn’t realized was in him begin to fill again.

Tubbo helped Tommy sit up after his hair was nice and wet, grabbing a towel to soak up as much excess water as possible, before he took the brush and ran it through his hair.

This was where the problems began. There were too many knots and tangles and matted locks of hair, Tubbo could only go a bit before he ran into the first one. It was impossible to tease apart, and Tommy could feel how Tubbo was cautious about pulling on his hair in an attempt to undo the damage of several long months.

“This is... what the hell, Tommy,” it wasn’t phrased as a question _~~it was an accusation,~~_ and suddenly the young man wished for the ground to swallow him up. “I think I need to cut this shorter than I thought.”

Tommy tried to stay in the present, really he did, but soon Tubbo’s voice deepened to something that wasn’t his own. _He saw Logstedshire, more of a crater than a livable site. Almost everything he loved and tried hard to keep safe, blown up before his eyes._

_“You need to learn... to behave,” he heard Dream say. “You have no one to blame for this but yourself.”_

“I’m sorry,” Tommy muttered, squeezing his eyes shut, feeling small and insignificant and-

He was brought back to the present with a hard _smack_ to the back of his head, and he yelped, snapping his eyes open and twisting around to see what the big idea was, when he got a chance to see Tubbo’s expression.

It was... hard to read, but Tommy had known this guy for so long, had been his best friend for so long, he knew every expression he had, and what they really meant. Tubbo was mad, but it was hard to figure out who he was mad at, himself or Tommy. A pointed small frown and furrowed brows, eyes refusing to meet Tommy’s own.

“None of that shit,” Tommy almost doesn’t hear him whisper that. “You don’t... Don’t.”

Tommy opened his mouth to apologize again, but that was when Tubbo looked at him, and all words fizzled from his throat.

There’s an unknown feeling in the air between them. They still haven’t spoken much, focusing on everything else and not risking to crack open all the hurt between them. They, or at least Tommy mainly, tried to forget it, move on, and maybe never have to talk about it _~~he knew it was bullshit, he was a horrible person and everyone absolutely knew that now and he was just being a burden to his own ex-best friend~~._

A light scoff brought Tommy out of his head, and he looked to Tubbo again, but the other made him turn around with gentle hands on either side of his head. “Stop moving your head, I don’t want to accidently slice your stupid ear off.”

“Like you’d cut my ear,” Tommy scoffed, and it was like the air refreshed itself as Tubbo laughed, something Tommy had not heard in so long.

“Then stop moving! How short should we go?”

“I don’t know, how bad is it?” Tommy asked.

“It may be easier to cut it all.”

“I am not going bald, you bitch!” He snapped, without an ounce of anger in his tone, and the two laughed.

“I wasn’t suggesting that!” Tubbo spoke as he laughed. “It’d just be a lot shorter than you normally had it.”

Soon, the sound of snips filled the room. Slowly, Tommy felt his head grow lighter as Tubbo worked on getting rid of the impossible knots. The silence was warmer than it had been minutes ago, and he wasn’t sure when his throat constricted, the burn of tears against his eyes making itself known to him. Tubbo doesn’t say a thing, though Tommy knows for a fact he can see the tears that push themselves out unbidden. All Tubbo does is continue to work, a hand running through his shorter hair to keep it even. Tommy’s grateful and many other emotions he can’t even begin to list, a warm feeling flooding his chest to the point it almost hurts.

After a while, Tubbo stopped cutting and seemed finished. Tommy finally opened his eyes and looked to the mirror. It was as short as it had been oh so long ago, just a few inches long. When he first moved to the area, before he had even found the discs, before the wars, before Dream became a monster, before everything. He looked very different, however, from before everything. His cheeks were sharper, his eyes sunken from the months of exile, and the shine wasn’t as bright as it had been. Scars framed his face, scratches and bladed attacks, and a small jagged scar peeked out from the top of his shirt from the L’Manburg war for independence, from the Final Control Room.

Over his shoulder, he saw Tubbo, the burn scars instantly identifiable, and the memory of how he got them would forever be seared into his eyelids, _had_ been forever seared. The scars reached up from his neck, with his face scarred as well, one eye no longer as bright as the other. It made all the other smaller scars littering his face difficult to pinpoint.

And something in him realized something important, in that moment. Despite everything, despite what had happened to the two of them, it was like they were back that first day Tubbo arrived to the area, building his house as Tommy caused dumb childish chaos. The two hanging out, as close as brothers, and being brothers in all but blood.

Tommy glanced over at Tubbo’s appearance through the mirror, at the rumpled suit he had yet to change out of, and his heart squeezed painfully, thinking over the past several months. George’s house, the meetings, the agreement, the wall, the exile decree. Despite everything, Tubbo had returned to his side. He had stayed by his side, had been... happy? to see Tommy stand by him in the middle of the destroyed community house. Tubbo had thrown himself at Tommy when Techno pointed his rocket launcher at him, something Tommy knew Tubbo was petrified of. Yet he still protected Tommy like they had never fought, like Tommy had never called him a monster, like Tommy hadn’t hurt him time and time again, like they were still the best of friends forever.

Despite everything, they were back together. Both were badly scarred and changed and hurt, but they were in the same room, barely a hair’s breadth apart, and Tommy wanted to stay in this moment for just a little longer.

Just a little longer.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed! I always look forward to hearing back from people, and if you don't know what to say, you can follow any of these feedback options, and I'll be sure to answer!  
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